1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to methods and systems for downloading content and more particularly, to mobile units that download content that can be rented.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, portable electronic devices, such as cellular telephones and personal digital assistants, have become commonplace. These devices have increased in sophistication and complexity, and there is a current push to implement a wide array of functions in them, as well. For example, many mobile units have the capability to download multimedia content—such as ringtones, wallpaper and video games—from various Internet sites. Typically, the user of the mobile unit will pay a fee for access to the downloadable content.
As an alternative to purchasing such multimedia content, the user of the mobile unit may wish to lease or rent or otherwise have access to the content for a limited period of time. By renting the content, the user can determine whether he likes the game enough to buy it, which can facilitate the user's decision-making process. In addition, the user may enter a wireless local area network (WLAN) coverage area, and he may wish to participate for a certain amount of time in a gaming session having several competing players.
Because the access to such content is temporally restricted, there may be several ways to monitor the user's usage to ensure that he does not exceed the allotted period of use. For example, the actual number of sessions in which a user is involved can be tracked, or the actual amount of time that a user has access to the content can be monitored. As a more specific example, a user may be granted the right to play a video game for a limited amount of sessions, and once these sessions are expended, the user's access is removed. In addition, the user may be granted access to a video game for a limited amount of time. When this duration has expired, the user's access will be removed.
Both of these methods have disadvantages, however. In particular, a user may consume his limited amount of sessions as he learns to play or participate in the multimedia content. In effect, the user is punished for learning the game. Moreover, the date and time parameters that are used to track the amount of time can be manipulated in a dishonest way, which would then extend the user's access beyond the amount of time to which he was originally entitled.